Environment

Manalapan Mining Company--which operates in Harlan County--and two of the company's top officials are pleading guilty to charges they willfully violated mine safety rules.

Louisville Gas and Electric says it doesn’t expect customer bills to increase as much as the company predicted last year.

The New York Times has experts in several fields weighing in this morning on what they say should be President Obama's priorities for the next four years. Two of them spoke about energy and the environment, and both are worth a read in their entirety.

For the past four years, officials in Kentucky’s coal industry have fought President Obama’s steps to further regulate emissions from coal plants and pollution from coal mining. Now that the president has won re-election, they wonder if anything will change in a second term.

President Obama’s administration has put into motion numerous regulations that affect the coal industry. But many of these aren’t actually in effect yet…they’re still moving through the rule making process, or are tied up in court.

A coal company plans to restart production at two mines in eastern Kentucky.

Pike County Judge-Executive Wayne Rutherford says 150 coal miners in his county will soon go back to work, but he can’t say for which company.

Rutherford was told the miners had worked at two idled mines in the county, but the company is still working on permits and doesn’t want to make the news public yet. Even so, Rutherford hailed the news as a sign that more coal jobs will be returning to eastern Kentucky.